The Brussels Street Photography Festival (BSPF) is an initiative of BREEDBEELD vzw, Vorstermanstraat 7, bus 1.5, 2000 Antwerp, hereafter called organizer.
Participation is open to anyone 18 years of age or older at the time of the competition.
The contests are open to photographers of all levels of experience, from enthusiast and beginners to professionals.
The call for entries for BSPF ‘24 begins on January 3rd and ends on March 24th, 2024.
There are 2 contest categories for which photographers can submit during BSPF's open call: Singles and Series. The Singles contest is all about strength of the individual photo, while the Series contest focuses on the strength of the whole.
In addition to the 2 winners in each category selected by the 2 juries, there are also the following prizes to be won:
ONLINE AUDIENCE AWARD
All photos submitted for the Singles competition are automatically eligible to participate in the online public prize, where the 3 most popular photos are chosen online by the public.
BRUSSELS AWARD
The awarded photo will be selected from the finalists of the Singles and Series contest. The prerequisite is that the photo was taken in the Brussels Capital Region.
FINALISTS AUDIENCE AWARD
During the festival the winner in each category will be chosen by the public from among the finalists.
The Photomarathon is a photo contest, which will take place on April 28th, 2024. This competition focuses on life in the city of Brussels and the Brussels Capital Region.
The photographer can participate in all contests, but only once in each contest.
The photographer may submit the same photos for both the Singles and Series contests, as they will be judged separately.
Each photograph can be submitted only once for each contest. Copies will be discarded.
Photos may be taken anywhere in the world, including Brussels.
Photos previously published may be submitted for the BSPF.
In the Singles contest, a maximum of 10 photos may be submitted.
In the Series contest, each entry must consist of a minimum of 5 and a maximum of 7 photos. Judging will take into account the sequence of your entry (the numbering you give the series of photos when you upload them).
In the Photomarathon contest, there is no limit to the number of photos that can be submitted. However, these images can only be submitted on the day of the photo marathon contest.
All images submitted must conform to the concept of street photography: i.e. spontaneous photographs in random locations in public spaces, both indoors and outdoors (city, street, beach, train, park, restaurant, ...)
Staged photos will not be accepted.
The name of each file must consist of the photographer's first and last name, followed by a number. You do this as follows: FirstName_Surname_Numbering.jpg. Photos that do not comply with this will automatically be excluded from the contest.
Both black and white and color photos are accepted.
Pictures need to be taken between January 2021 and now.
Photos may be taken with a digital, analog camera or cell phone. For submission through our website, analog images must be digitized.
The file format of photos submitted must be jpeg/jpg.
The file size of each photo should not exceed 5MB.
If selected, the organizer will ask to provide a higher resolution file. If this cannot be made available, participation in the exhibition cannot be guaranteed.
The longest side of the photos must be at least 3000 pixels in size.
Each photo submitted must contain the complete, unaltered EXIF data. This applies to digital photographs only and therefore does not apply to digitized film images.
Photos may not be altered or manipulated in post-production, with the exception of adjustments in the darkroom and/or the digital equivalent.
Removal of dust on the sensor and scratches on scans of negatives is permitted.
Limited cropping is allowed.
HDR images, watermarked images, artwork, illustrations, computer-generated or computer-edited photographs will not be accepted.
For the Photomarathon contest, only street photos taken in the Brussels Capital Region on the day of the Photomarathon and shared on Instagram on the same day using the hashtag #BSPFphotomarathon are eligible to win. People without an Instagram account can participate by sending the photos to contest@bspfestival.org.
For the Singles competitions, the price per photo is determined by the number of photos submitted. When participating with 1 to 5 photos, you pay 18 euros per photo. If you submit 6 to 10 photos, the price drops to 15 euros per photo.
The price of your participation is automatically calculated at the end of the entry form.
For the Series contest, there is a fixed price of 60 euros.
Payment can be made via bancontact, credit card or Paypal.
Payments for submitted images will not be refunded.
There is no additional cost for the online audience award, finalist audience award and Brussels award.
Participation in the Photomarathon is free of charge.
The selection of the winners in both the Singles and Series competition will take place in two stages.
The first jury is responsible for selecting the finalists.
The selection of the finalists will take place online from March 26th to April 5th, 2024.
The images will be judged blind. This means that the judges view the images without the name or details of the photographer.
All photographs submitted are eligible to participate in the finalist exhibition as long as they meet all the conditions in these guidelines.
In the Singles competition, each photograph is judged individually, as a separate entry.
The Series contest is all about the strength of the photographs as a whole. Here the photos are not judged based on their individual quality. The sequence of the submitted series is also evaluated.
All finalists from both competitions will be part of the BSPF '24 exhibition.
During the festival, the second jury will meet in Brussels to select the winners among the finalists.
The members of the first and second jury will be announced from January until March.
BSPF cannot provide feedback on the entry of those not selected.
The decision of the jury is final, and the jury members or BSPF will not communicate with photographers about this decision.
All photos submitted for the Singles contest will be manually added to the online audience award platform by BSPF, as long as they meet all the conditions in these rules. This may take up to 72 hours after submission.
The voting platform will come online on January 3rd. Voting is possible until April 28th, 2024.
The 3 most popular photos and the winner will be determined by the public.
All finalists from the Singles and Series contest who submitted a photo taken in the Brussels Capital Region are eligible for the Brussels award.
However, for this contest, the photos from the Series contest will be judged individually.
The winner will be selected by the second jury during the festival.
The attending public can vote for their favorite photographer in both categories during their visit to the finalist exhibition from May 30th to June 2nd.
The public will cast their vote by depositing a completed voting form, handed out at the entrance of the expo, in the ballot box.
The winner of the Photomarathon will be selected by the BSPF team.
Photographers selected as finalists during the first round will be notified via email by April 17th, 2024.
BSPF will contact the finalists for a high-resolution jpeg file of the selected photograph(s). These files must be delivered to the BSPF by April 24th, 2024. If the photographer fails to do so, the entry may be dropped as a finalist.
Finalists are also asked to share the year and location in which the selected photo(s) were taken with the BSPF.
Finalists will be officially announced during the week of May 6th, 2024.
All costs associated with the selection and exhibition of finalists will be covered by the BSPF.
The winners of the Singles and Series Competition, the Brussels Award and the Finalists Audience Award will be announced during the festival.
The winners do not have to be present to receive their prizes.
The 3 most popular photos and winner of the online audience prize will be announced on the BSPF website and social media channels during the week of May 13th, 2024.
The winner of the Photomarathon will be announced on the BSPF's website and social media channels during the week of May 20th, 2024.
The Photomarathon winner will also be contacted to provide both contact information and a high-resolution file to the BSPF.
The prizes for the winners are non-transferable.
Any costs related to transferring the prize money are the responsibility of the winner.
The best photo will receive a cash prize of 1500 euros, an interview on bspfestival.org and will be allowed to be part of the finalist jury during BSPF '25.
The second prize consists of a cash prize of 450 euros and an interview on bspfestival.org.
The best photo series will receive a cash prize of 1900 euros, an interview on bspfestival.org and will be allowed to be part of the finalist jury during BSPF '25.
The second prize consists of a cash prize of 750 euros and an interview on bspfestival.org.
The winner's photo will be distributed as a free postcard during the festival.
The 3 most popular photos will also be shared on our social media.
The finalist with the best photo taken in the Brussels Capital Region will be awarded a cash prize of 300 euros.
Both audience prizes will receive an honorable mention during the festival.
The winner's photo will be distributed as a free postcard during the festival.
Each submitter guarantees to be the author and full copyright holder of the submitted works; that they are original works and not reproductions or copies of existing works.
If one or more persons are depicted in the submitted photos, ensure to have the permission of this person or persons to reproduce their portrait.
The organizer accepts no responsibility for possible infringements of third-party copyrights.
Nor can the organizer be held liable for claims or complaints due to persons appearing in the photos, this liability lies with the participant.
The selected images will be exhibited during the BSPF and may be included in communications surrounding the competition.
By participating in the photo contest, the participating photographers grant the organizer unconditional permission for five years to use the images solely in the context of the BSPF, the exhibition and in all media, including social media, online and print, in connection with the contests, the festival, the exhibition, and all promotional and educational activities for and under the supervision of the BSPF.
Photographers cannot claim compensation for copyright transfer in this context.
Proper credit will be given to each publication.
Photographs submitted will not be used for commercial purposes or sold to third parties.
For finalist photos taken in Brussels, the copyright holders grant the City of Brussels the unrestricted, non-exclusive right to use the high-resolution photos for the Brussels Archives and for all promotional activities, for and under the supervision of the Brussels Archives, without compensation.
Upon participation, your personal data (name, place of residence, e-mail, telephone) will be processed, collected and kept for one year by the organizer, in order to enable the smooth running of the competition and to inform you about the competition results, the exhibition dates and the next edition of the competition.
The name and place of residence of the selected image makers will be kept for 5 years for communication and reporting about the contest.
To enable a smooth participation procedure, the organizer uses Jotform.
Under no circumstances will the data be made available to other parties without the consent of the participant.
The names and place of residence of the selected image makers may, however, be made public within the framework of the competition, for example in the context of communication.
The use of personal data will be in compliance with the Data Protection Act.
The organization cannot be held responsible in case of changes or cancellation of the contest and festival due to force majeure.
The BSPF reserves the right to cancel or modify the competitions and these conditions without prior notice. Any changes in the competitions will be communicated to the participants as soon as possible.
All matters not provided for in the terms and conditions shall be presented to the organization. The BSPF will make the final decision on them. By participating, each participant declares to agree with the terms and conditions and to be bound by them.
The BSPF reserves the right to refuse or exclude an entry at its own discretion.
By participating, entrants agree to release, discharge, and hold harmless the Brussels Street Photography Festival, its organizers, all respective partners, affiliates, subsidiaries, advertising agencies, agents and their employees, officers, directors, and representatives from any claims, losses, damages, and injuries arising out of their participation in this festival.
The photographer agrees to fully indemnify the Brussels Street Photography Festival with respect to all royalties, fees and any other monies owed to any person or entity.
The organizers (The Brussels Street Photography Festival and all affiliates) assume no responsibility for any error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, or delay in operation or transmission; communications line failure; theft or destruction of or unauthorized access to festival entries or entry forms; or alteration of entries or entry forms.
The organizers are not responsible for any problems with or technical malfunction of any telephone network or lines, computer online systems, servers or providers, computer equipment, software, failure of any e-mail entry to be received on account of technical problems or traffic congestion on the Internet or at any website, human errors of any kind, or any combination thereof, including any injury or damage to entrants’ or any other persons’ computers related to or resulting from participation, uploading, or downloading of any materials related to this festival.
If you have any problems submitting or any other question regarding the contest, please contact the BSPF coordinator: Lies De Jaegher, lies@bspfestival.org - +32 (0)3 289 12 03.